Learn to Set Goals You Can Actually Achieve

Broken dreams, unfulfilled goals. Sound familiar? Most people looking back on their lives can see a long trail of dreams and goals that ended in failure.

With the very best of intentions, we go through cycle after cycle (can you say New Year's resolutions?) of coming up with plans, goals, and waves of willpower that will finally have us "hanging ten"on the big one that will surf us into our dreams.

Unfortunately, in the not-too-distant future we find that we are right back where we started, looking at the �game plan� and wondering what happened. We had the best of intentions and we were sure this time was going to be different. This was supposed to be the final time for goal setting and we were going to get it right. And, here we are again. Now, you are hoping against hope to make some changes to keep this from happening to you next time.

I have good news for you. You CAN do it! How can I promise you this? Because I have been down that road before. I�ve gone through the same cycle over and over again. I don�t do that anymore though�at least not nearly as often. I can�t say that I never fail but I can say that I rarely do. I cannot honestly say that I keep every goal, every resolution, but I am able to set goals, make an action plan, and do what it takes to achieve success.

I'm going to share with you 10 secrets on how you can set goals whether financial, personal or spiritual... and keep them from crumbling into failure yet again.

Secret One: Establish goals that are actually achievable

Have you seen pictures of the people who put huge disks in their lip to stretch it out? Or, maybe you have seen the people who elongate their necks with rings stacked on top of each other. And then there are the guys who stick swords down their throats.

Do you think they just wake up one day and decide to take the biggest disk, the most rings, or the longest sword and get down to business? No. They start with the smallest first and work their way up.One of the major reasons people fail at keeping their goals is because they come up with grandiose, earthshattering, mountain moving, life-changing epiphanies instead of devising realistic and achievable goals. We are predisposed because of all of the self-esteem nonsense today to not think realistically about either our abilities or our current level of discipline.

If you have spent 10 years putting on 150 pounds, don't think you're going to lose it all in six months and keep it all off. If you have never developed good eating habits, don't make a goal that you will never eat sugar again starting today because it will take about three days to blow that one.

If keeping a rigid schedule or developing habits regarding your goals has been a stumbling block for you, don�t think you are going to be able to change that in one day. You won�t be able to. You must work up to big changes by setting smaller goals, ones that are actually achievable.

For example. You want to earn and save $200,000 in one year and be able to crank out 200 push-ups in one sitting. If you have not had a history of being a hard worker, if you are not disciplined and busy educating yourself about your business, you won�t be able to make that much money. Also, you are not going to be able to plop down on the ground and whip out 200 push-ups tomorrow.

If you want to be able to do 200 push-ups at a time, start with a goal of two. After you are able to do that, increase it to 10, 20, and then 50. If you set achievable goals, you will be motivated to continue and you will be enthusiastic about your progress. Make your goals reachable. Don�t make the mistake of setting �sky high�goals with the intent of impressing others. That is a recipe for failure.

If you've never made or saved $200,000, start with $20. Then make a hundred and save a hundred. Get out of debt, quit spending, stop playing the lottery, and eating out five times a week. Set an achievable goal of saving $500. Then, shoot for a thousand and then $5000.

The secret is baby steps. If you underpromise and overachieve, you will be motivated and you�ll feel successful instead of feeling like a failure because you were not able to reach your unrealistic expectations. How does someone walk from New York City to Los Angeles? One step at a time. You might have to start with one step a day. That�s the mentality needed to reach your goals.

G. Brent Riggs has over 20 years experience as an author, teacher, mentor and business owner. You can contact him from his main website: http://www.gbrentriggs.com